Gholson Status Report

Friday

Feb 15, 2013 at 5:15 PM

Its been a busy week and I haven’t had time to even think about posting, but I’m sitting here at school with my tablet and have some time so how about a status report.

As Steve said over at There and Back Again, this winter has not been very conducive to riding, my mileage is way down from last year. I’ve only ridden my road bike once or twice so far in 2013. Last year our winter was so dry and mild that I was racking on miles all the time, many of them in the dark on the rail trail. Most of my miles have been on the trainer. I did a 45 minute workout this morning, Revolver 45 a Sufferfest video. When done properly Sufferfest videos are guaranteed to leave you a quivering wreck.

A new LOW

My weight is down to about 224 but it was lower before Valentines Day and all the candy I’ve been eating. Several things have changed in the last few weeks which have lead to this nearly ten pound weight loss. One of the biggest changes is simply eating fewer meals. Due to my schedule I’ve been sitting down at the table to eat complete meals much less. Instead I’ve been just eating snacks and stuff all the time. I think this is working out for me because I would normally eat whenever I was hungry anyway, then felt I needed to sit down and eat a meal because it was “lunch time” or “supper time” I would eat when I wasn’t even hungry just because it was the appropriate time to eat.

So about that schedule. I’m not sure how much I’ve mentioned this in the blog, I know some but here’s the whole story. My art teaching job was cut last year, and I couldn’t find another job teaching. I began substitute teaching in the Fall and found that it would be impossible to earn a descent living at it. Plus I really felt like I was wasting my time. I really like teaching, but I can’t say I didn’t look forward to some kind of change when I lost my job.

I signed up for a Workforce Investment Act grant which paid for me to attend school for training. I had debated long and hard over returning to school for more teaching credentials or a totally different program. On the surface teaching credentials make the most sense, I already have a Bachelor’s degree, why wouldn’t I want to build on that? Money was the root of the problem but it went farther then that. I’d have to pay lots of money to take the classes I’d need to be certified to teach something other than art. After spending thousands of dollars and hours of time driving 2 hours a day to SIU I would still be competing with lots of people, like new graduates that would start at year one on the pay scale saving a district thousands of dollars.

The WIA grant allowed me to return to school for no cost and get training for an in demand job. I choose medical lab technician because it was one of the hardest programs on the list, and I’m interested in a medical career where I won’t be catheterizing people. I already have many of the classes for it. If a job teaching art opens up next fall I can try for it, but I’m honestly not expecting that to happen. Lots of people have looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I was returning to school for an associates degree when I already hold an AA and a BS. All I can say is it would be dumb to throw away free education.

At nearly the same time I was preparing to return to school I received mail from the Postal Service about a job I had applied for 2 months ago, a part time custodial position at the office next door to my house. I had completely given up on the job, but it turns out they wanted me. The hold up was they had to continue posting the job until a veteran applied.

When I went to the interview there were 5 of us, 3 of them had driven over an hour. When they found out the job would be 16 hours a week divided into 6 days a week 2.5 hour shifts they all walked out the door. Thats how bad the economic situation is around here, people were going for a part time job they would have to drive a hour to work at, but at 2 hours a day they wouldn’t even make enough money to pay for the gas.

I started the job a few weeks ago and the postal folks have been very accommodating allowing me to work around my classes and I’m actually kind of enjoying the work, or at least enjoying working and not wondering if the phone would ring at 6:30 AM with an offer of half a days work subing. Plus I have to admit it’s pretty nice to walk to work.

I had my 34th birthday this week, celebrated Valentines Day with Shaundoh, and in Anotomy and Physiology I had my first test in 11 years. I made an A.

Matt Gholson

Its been a busy week and I haven’t had time to even think about posting, but I’m sitting here at school with my tablet and have some time so how about a status report.

As Steve said over at There and Back Again, this winter has not been very conducive to riding, my mileage is way down from last year. I’ve only ridden my road bike once or twice so far in 2013. Last year our winter was so dry and mild that I was racking on miles all the time, many of them in the dark on the rail trail. Most of my miles have been on the trainer. I did a 45 minute workout this morning, Revolver 45 a Sufferfest video. When done properly Sufferfest videos are guaranteed to leave you a quivering wreck.

A new LOW

My weight is down to about 224 but it was lower before Valentines Day and all the candy I’ve been eating. Several things have changed in the last few weeks which have lead to this nearly ten pound weight loss. One of the biggest changes is simply eating fewer meals. Due to my schedule I’ve been sitting down at the table to eat complete meals much less. Instead I’ve been just eating snacks and stuff all the time. I think this is working out for me because I would normally eat whenever I was hungry anyway, then felt I needed to sit down and eat a meal because it was “lunch time” or “supper time” I would eat when I wasn’t even hungry just because it was the appropriate time to eat.

So about that schedule. I’m not sure how much I’ve mentioned this in the blog, I know some but here’s the whole story. My art teaching job was cut last year, and I couldn’t find another job teaching. I began substitute teaching in the Fall and found that it would be impossible to earn a descent living at it. Plus I really felt like I was wasting my time. I really like teaching, but I can’t say I didn’t look forward to some kind of change when I lost my job.

I signed up for a Workforce Investment Act grant which paid for me to attend school for training. I had debated long and hard over returning to school for more teaching credentials or a totally different program. On the surface teaching credentials make the most sense, I already have a Bachelor’s degree, why wouldn’t I want to build on that? Money was the root of the problem but it went farther then that. I’d have to pay lots of money to take the classes I’d need to be certified to teach something other than art. After spending thousands of dollars and hours of time driving 2 hours a day to SIU I would still be competing with lots of people, like new graduates that would start at year one on the pay scale saving a district thousands of dollars.

The WIA grant allowed me to return to school for no cost and get training for an in demand job. I choose medical lab technician because it was one of the hardest programs on the list, and I’m interested in a medical career where I won’t be catheterizing people. I already have many of the classes for it. If a job teaching art opens up next fall I can try for it, but I’m honestly not expecting that to happen. Lots of people have looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I was returning to school for an associates degree when I already hold an AA and a BS. All I can say is it would be dumb to throw away free education.

At nearly the same time I was preparing to return to school I received mail from the Postal Service about a job I had applied for 2 months ago, a part time custodial position at the office next door to my house. I had completely given up on the job, but it turns out they wanted me. The hold up was they had to continue posting the job until a veteran applied.

When I went to the interview there were 5 of us, 3 of them had driven over an hour. When they found out the job would be 16 hours a week divided into 6 days a week 2.5 hour shifts they all walked out the door. Thats how bad the economic situation is around here, people were going for a part time job they would have to drive a hour to work at, but at 2 hours a day they wouldn’t even make enough money to pay for the gas.

I started the job a few weeks ago and the postal folks have been very accommodating allowing me to work around my classes and I’m actually kind of enjoying the work, or at least enjoying working and not wondering if the phone would ring at 6:30 AM with an offer of half a days work subing. Plus I have to admit it’s pretty nice to walk to work.

I had my 34th birthday this week, celebrated Valentines Day with Shaundoh, and in Anotomy and Physiology I had my first test in 11 years. I made an A.

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